Astraphobia
by LeeeeeroooyJenkins
Summary: A late night adventure through Mulgore turns ugly for two blood elf children.


"We're not supposed to go out this far, especially at night," the blonde whined, resisting against the grasp of the other blood elf. "Stop, I wanna go home."

"Don't be a baby," the redhead hissed back, continuing to pull his friend through the darkness. "Didn't you walk around Silvermoon late at night?"

He rolled his eyes with a scoff. "Uh, no actually. _I_ stayed in bed like I was told to, but it's not like you know what rules are. And even if I did, I didn't have to worry about falling of a cliff!" Sanivan gasped as his friend wheeled around and covered his mouth.

"Shut up Sanivan! Do you want to get caught?" Sanivan gave one last desperate look to the blood elf, and then shrugged reluctantly. Delynnivar smiled in satisfaction. "Good, then we're set. Come on Sunshine!"

"This is a horrible idea," whined Sanivan. "I hate Thunder Bluff. I wanna go back home. You'd like Silvermoon, Delly. It's so pretty and it doesn't smell like cows."

Sanivan, like many blood elves, had been born and raised in Eversong Woods. He had been a spoiled child, being the only child of his parents, until the day they suddenly vanished from the face of Azeroth. Alone with no other family, Sanivan had been sent to Orgrimmar's orphanage. He lived there for months until he was adopted by a blood elf named Coria Dragonheart. Shunned by most other blood elves and most of the Horde, Coria had moved to the only place she felt accepted; Mulgore.

Despite having lived almost a year now with the tauren in Thunder Bluff, Sanivan was still having a hard time forgetting his distrust of the creatures. Even so, he already loved his new family like they were his own. Even if they were a little... strange.

"Well this is your home now," Delynnivar whispered, slightly annoyed at his adopted brother's prissy behavior, but still considerate of his homesickness. _I'd be cranky too if I had to live so far away from my home. _"Look, there's the elevator!"

The two young blood elves stood in front of the platform leading off into the distance to the elevator. The blonde whimpered, miserably aware of what his friend had planned. "No, Delly, please-"

"You're older; you should be braver than me." Again pulling the terrified boy by the arm, he stole quickly and quietly to the other side. Delly giggled in excitement as the elevator pulled up.

"I'm not going down there," said Sanivan as they got onto the elevator. He stomped a foot and crossed his pale arms. "I'm telling Minn'da if you don't take me home now!"

"Too late!" snickered the other as they began descending. Sanivan's impudence disappeared as he clung protectively to the rail with a gasp.

As they reached the bottom, Delynnivar jumped from the platform and onto the grass. He looked up in anticipation, his golden green eyes glittering mischievously. "What? Are you going all the way back to the house? Alone? In the dark?" Sanivan quickly scrambled down, much to his friend's satisfaction.

"So now what?" he snapped in irritation. Delly shrugged and started off into the darkness. Exasperated, Sanivan followed. A single raindrop fell from the sky, making him sneeze. "Now it's raining! We're gonna get all muddy thanks to you!"

The five year old tilted his head back to taste the rain as it began to pour. "Are all of you blood elves such pricks? I love the rain. And the mud."

"Like you would know anything about being a blood elf," scoffed Sanivan. "What kind of blood elf lives with tauren and sleeps outside with animals?"

"My kind," Delly grinned, provoking an eye roll from his friend. "I like animals. I want to be a druid."

"You moron, blood elves can't be druids!"

"Fine, I'll be a hunter. Then I can get a pet lion!"

"You're such a-" Sanivan shook his head. _Just let it go._ "Fine, you're a hunter. Why not get a dragonhawk? They're prettier and smarter."

"I don't want _pretty_, I want tough," Delynnivar said with a laugh. "And who needs smarts when I have you?" Sanivan rolled his eyes to cover his amusement.

"And I will be a mage of course. I already know a lot about it. I read about arcane magic in my books back home, and I'm going to specialize in fire, and I'm going to-"

"Okay, okay!" Delly laughed. "You talk a lot. You've said that fifty billion times now."

"Oh like you have a right to say that. How many times did you tell me that story about the flying kodo you supposedly saw?"

"That definitely happened," said Delynnivar with a grin.

* * *

For awhile, the boys walked silently through the pouring rain. Every now and then, lightning pierced the black sky. _Mulgore _is_ rather beautiful, _Sanivan thought, completely captivated by the flashes of light that branched through the air. After checking to make sure his friend wasn't watching, he stuck out his tongue to taste the rain.

"Okay Delly, this is fun and all, but I wanna go home."

Delynnivar shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe we should. Lead the way." Sanivan's eyes lit up in horror as his friend shrank in guilt. "What's wrong Sunshine?"

"Me? I-I thought _you_ knew where we were!"

"Umm… no?" He landed in the mud with a splash as the blonde pushed him in and stormed off. Delly picked himself up and trailed behind nervously. "Sorry."

They never knew they were mere foot steps away from the elevator and headed in the opposite direction.

The two wandered aimlessly through the dark, tromping through mud and jumping at every thunder crash for hours. Finally, the elder child fell over in exhaustion, his soaked, dirty hair looking more brown than blonde.

"I hate this place!" wailed Sanivan. "Why did some weird tauren loving freaks have to adopt me?" Delynnivar half cried, half laughed back.

"Love you too Sunshine. Come on, it's just some rain and lightning." He hugged his friend protectively and tugged his hand. "We'll be home soon."

"Let me go!" Sanivan snapped, pulling away in a huff. Delly stumbled backwards and disappeared with a splash. "Delynnivar?" he called out after a moment. Sanivan crawled over to find his hands in water. "Delly?" _Oh what did I do?_

Jumping to his feet, the blood elf scanned the area. Through the night and rain's blur, he could barley see the huge lake in front of him. _He fell in! _

Sanivan ran by the water's shore in a panic. The redhead was nowhere to be seen. "Delly!" he wailed again. "Where did you go?"

A hand grabbed him suddenly from behind and pulled him into the air kicking and screaming. Another hand covered his mouth.

"What is this nonsense?" a gruff voice growled. Sanivan started crying hysterically in fear. The orc sighed in annoyance. "Are you that blood elf Coria adopted? Why are you all the way at Stonebull Lake so late in this weather? And stop crying! Gods you blood elves are such pricks." The source of the voice looked around impatiently. "I know I heard two voices." Sanivan push away the hand to get a gasp of breath, then he broke down completely.

"It's my fault! Delly fell in the lake!" cried the child, and the orc's eyes lit up in alarm. _If something happens to that child, Coria will have my head!_

"That child can't go an hour without causing panic!" Gorrug snapped, dropping Sanivan into the mud. He sniveled pathetically and screamed as lightning struck again. "Oh calm down! He's fine. This isn't the first time this has happened you know."

* * *

Meanwhile, the storm was still raging as Delynnivar washed up due west of Bloodhoof Village. He coughed violently to clear his lungs, and then struggled to his feet.

"Sanivan? Come on Sunshine, where are you?" A streak of lightning snapped the sky again, and in the instant of lightness Delly saw a path in the distance. "Okay, I'm okay," he told himself. "If I can survive Minn'da's cooking, I can survive this."

Laughing a little at his joke to comfort himself, Delynnivar pushed the hair from his face and ran for the path. Still rather disoriented from his experience in the lake, he soon forgot where he was going. "This is stupid. I'm too tired to walk around in this mess."

The blood elf limped to a nearby tree next to the path. "Okay, I'll sleep here until morning. Then tomorrow I can go home and Sanivan will be there and we'll play games…" He scrambled into the tree as he feverishly rambled to no one in particular. Thunder clashed and rumbled the valley. Delynnivar groaned in pain and gripped his aching head.

Doing so caused him to become off balance and fall out of the tree with a thump. He swore an Orcish swear he had learned from one of the Orgrimmar Guards and pulled himself up. A loud crack startled him and sent him leaping backwards.

The tree he had just fallen from was ablaze with fire. The sudden brightness hurt his eyes, but the little blood elf stared in confusion. _Lightning can do that?_ The tree responded by dropping a scorching branch onto the ground right in front of him. Realization hit the child: _If I hadn't left that tree…_

Soon enough, the sky lit up again, but this time Delly screamed in unison, his high pitch cry of terror clashing with the deep rumble through the valley. He had always found the lightning pretty, but now he knew its true nature.

The sky continued to mock him and roared louder. Mulgore lit up in blinding white flashes around him. "I don't want to die!" he wailed as he crumpled to the ground with his hands over his ears.

* * *

Down the path, Sanivan suddenly perked his own ears in interest. "Wait, I hear him!" he cried out. Gorrug shushed him and listened carefully. Faintly, the orc heard a small scream. Anxiety suddenly clouded over his anger.

"That can't be him." _Can it? I never heard the little monster cry before…_

Sanivan paid no attention. He let go of the orc's arm and shot down the path like an arrow. He ran past the awaken folk of Bloodhoof Village who were watching the storm in amazement. With each step the call became louder. Sanivan pushed his beyond tired legs through the fatigue.

The child stopped in surprise to see a giant tree adorned with blazes of ribbony fire. Unlike his friend, Sanivan was absolutely mystified by its beauty and for a moment forget why he had been running around.

"Sanivan!" The shriek snapped him back to his cold environment. Through the light of the dancing inferno, he saw a curled up child lying in the grass.

"You're okay!" he yelled back, too relieved to see his friend's terror. "Get out of the mud and we can go home. Some ugly orc found-"

He was cut off when another crash from above sent Delynnivar into another fit. Sanivan laughed. A hot look from the usually friendly blood elf stifled his amusement. "Oh, sorry. This is all your fault anyway."

"Shut up and get me out of this damn place!" Delynnivar hollered with atypical harshness. The blonde shrunk back in alarm.

"There you are!" Gorrug panted, tired from having chased Sanivan so far down the path. "You two are in serious-" He stopped as he saw the horrified looks on the children's faces. "What happened?"

"I wanna go home!" Delynnivar was shouting over and over. The orc looked at Sanivan for an answer, but all he could do was shake his head in bewilderment. After what seemed like hours, Gorrug walked over and picked up the flailing blood elf.

"Come on Sanivan," he grunted irately. The child nodded obediently and trailed behind closely. "Delly, _shut up_! And stop kicking me."

* * *

"Where have you been?" Coria snapped at the orc as he walked into the little home in Thunder Bluff. Gorrug stopped himself from smacking the woman as he dropped the fainted redhead onto a hammock. "Where's Sanivan?"

"He's down at the bakery. I gave him some silver so he could buy some of that bread Delynnivar likes." Coria rolled her eyes. _So that's where Sanivan picked that up, _he thought in drained amusement.

"Why are you rewarding the little monster for running of at night?"

"Delynnivar is under shock or something. I don't know what happened, but I've never seen anyone look so scared in my life. I think he's afraid of thunder or something." He growled the last sentence when he saw the look of pleasure on the mother's face.

"That'll teach him then. Thank you Gorrug." She pushed the orc out of the room and slammed the door in his face.

He growled again. He knew the woman would punish the poor kid, despite the torture he had already gone through. Sighing, the orc turned slowly and headed down the path. The rain had stopped, and the thunder was replaced by the cheery chirping of birds.

"Uh, excuse me?" a timid voice from behind called out. He turned to see Sanivan holding a loaf of sweet smelling bread and some extra pieces of bronze.

"Just keep it," Gorrug sighed as the blood elf attempted to hand him the change. "I'll take the bread though, thank you." _Coria isn't going to let him have it anyway._ He left the city with the food and headed back down the road. Sanivan watched him go before finally turning back and heading to his home.

* * *

**Author's Note: I wrote this thing about my two blood elf OCs because it sounded like a cute idea and I am currently ill with writer blockajitis and some kind of flu. This takes place 12 years before Druid's and Hunter's, so Delly is 5 and Sanivan is 7. It's about their first adventure together and stuff. I may add some other little stories like this later and give my characters some history. They'll all be chapters under this story though because I'm not uploaded 50 separate stories and spamming this website.**

**If it's not with the lore, I apologize for that. I usually like things to be with the lore, but I'm writing for fun right now. It's calming.**

**I love reviews you know. They just make my day *hint hint*.**


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